Created basic camera class.

Camera2D.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+using System;
+using Microsoft.Xna.Framework;
+using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics;
+
+namespace LunaLightXMG
+{
+    public class Camera2D
+    {
+        // Fields
+        private readonly Viewport viewport;
+        private float zoom;
+        private float rotation;
+        private Vector2 position;
+        private Rectangle levelBounds;
+        
+        // Getters and setters
+        public Vector2 Position
+        {
+            get => position;
+            set => position = value;
+        }
+        public float Zoom
+        {
+            get => zoom;
+            set => zoom = (int)Math.Floor(MathHelper.Clamp(value, 1f, 3f));
+        }
+        public float Rotation
+        {
+            get => rotation;
+            set => rotation = value;
+        }
+        
+        // constructor
+        public Camera2D(int width, int height)
+        {
+            this.viewport = new Viewport(0, 0, width, height);
+            levelBounds = new Rectangle(0, 0, 320, 180); // Default
+            zoom = 1f;
+            rotation = 0f;
+            position = Vector2.Zero;
+        }
+        
+        public Matrix GetViewMatrix()
+        {
+            return
+                Matrix.CreateTranslation(new Vector3(-position, 0f)) *
+                Matrix.CreateRotationZ(rotation) *
+                Matrix.CreateScale(zoom, zoom, 1f) *
+                Matrix.CreateTranslation(new Vector3(viewport.Width * 0.5f, viewport.Height * 0.5f, 0f));
+        }
+
+        public void SetLevelBounds(Rectangle bounds)
+        {
+            levelBounds = bounds;
+        }
+
+        public void Follow(Vector2 targetPostion)
+        {
+            // temp code
+            Vector2 smoothPosition = Vector2.Lerp(position, targetPostion, 0.1f);
+            position = smoothPosition;
+            ClampToBounds();
+        }
+
+        private void ClampToBounds()
+        {
+            // Calculate the cam's half viewport size
+            var halfViewportWidth = viewport.Width * 0.5f / zoom;
+            var halfViewportHeight = viewport.Height * 0.5f / zoom;
+            
+            // Clamp cam to level bounds
+            float minX = levelBounds.Left + halfViewportWidth;
+            float maxX = levelBounds.Right - halfViewportWidth;
+            float minY = levelBounds.Top + halfViewportHeight;
+            float maxY = levelBounds.Bottom - halfViewportHeight;
+
+            // Set cam position within level bounds
+            position.X = MathHelper.Clamp(position.X, minX, maxX);
+            position.Y = MathHelper.Clamp(position.Y, minY, maxY);
+        }
+    }
+}

LunaLightGame.cs

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Audio;
 using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Media;
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
 
 namespace LunaLightXMG
 {
@@ -16,13 +17,12 @@ namespace LunaLightXMG
         private List<Enemy> enemies;
         private int numOfEnemies;
         private GraphicsDeviceManager graphics;
+        private Camera2D camera2D;
         private SpriteBatch spriteBatch;
 
         // Native retro scale
         private int retroWidth = 320;
         private int retroHeight = 180;
-        // private int retroWidth = 480;
-        // private int retroHeight = 270;
         
         // Test Render Target
         private RenderTarget2D renderTarget;
@@ -81,6 +81,12 @@ namespace LunaLightXMG
             playerInput.HasControl = true; // May need to find a new home for this
             
             base.Initialize();
+            
+            // Initialize camera
+            camera2D = new Camera2D(retroWidth, retroHeight);
+            // camera test - set level bounds
+            camera2D.SetLevelBounds(new Rectangle(0,0,480,270)); // default 320x180
+            
             CalculateRenderDestination();
             // Play music
             // PlayBackgroundMusic(sinkBeats);
@@ -89,7 +95,33 @@ namespace LunaLightXMG
             platforms = PlatformGenerator.CreatePlatforms(numOfPlatforms);
         }
         
+        // Testing camera ------------------------
+        private void TestCameraWhilePlaying()
+        {
+            KeyboardState keyboardState = Keyboard.GetState();
+            var KeyI = keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.I) ? true : false;
+            var KeyO = keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.O) ? true : false;
+            var KeyK = keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.K) ? true : false;
+            var KeyL = keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.L) ? true : false;
             
+            if (KeyI)
+            {
+                camera2D.Zoom += 1f;
+            }
+            if (KeyO)
+            {
+                camera2D.Zoom -= 1f;
+            }
+            if (KeyK)
+            {
+                camera2D.Rotation -= 0.01f;
+            }
+            if (KeyL)
+            {
+                camera2D.Rotation += 0.01f;
+            }
+        }
+        // ---------------------------------------
         protected override void LoadContent()
         {
             spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);
@@ -130,6 +162,11 @@ namespace LunaLightXMG
                 enemy.Update(gameTime, player, platforms);
             }
             
+            // Update camera position
+            camera2D.Follow(player.position);
+            // camera testing
+            TestCameraWhilePlaying();
+            
             base.Update(gameTime);
         }
 
@@ -140,8 +177,12 @@ namespace LunaLightXMG
             // Test Render Target - Draw sprites to the render target
             GraphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(renderTarget);
 
-            // Test Sprite
+            // Add camera to draw batch
-            spriteBatch.Begin(samplerState: SamplerState.PointClamp);
+            spriteBatch.Begin(
+                transformMatrix: camera2D.GetViewMatrix(),
+                samplerState: SamplerState.PointClamp
+            );
+
             // Debug Grid
             // spriteBatch.Draw(debugGrid, new Vector2(0, 0), Color.Blue);
             // spriteBatch.Draw(sinkArea, new Vector2(0, 0), Color.White);
@@ -242,6 +283,9 @@ namespace LunaLightXMG
             spriteBatch.DrawString(debugFont, $"Grounded: {player.grounded}", new Vector2(10, 30), Color.White);
             spriteBatch.DrawString(debugFont, $"Walled: {player.walled}", new Vector2(10, 50), Color.White);
             spriteBatch.DrawString(debugFont, $"Position: {player.position}", new Vector2(10, 70), Color.White);
+            spriteBatch.DrawString(debugFont, $"Camera Position: {camera2D.Position}", new Vector2(10, 90), Color.White);
+            spriteBatch.DrawString(debugFont, $"Camera Zoom: {camera2D.Zoom}", new Vector2(10, 110), Color.White);
+            spriteBatch.DrawString(debugFont, $"Camera Rotation: {camera2D.Rotation}", new Vector2(10, 130), Color.White);
             
             spriteBatch.End();
         }

UpdateNotes/Camera.md

@@ -2,9 +2,32 @@
 
 Currentlly the camera is static, or non-existtent really.. we need to create a camera class that handles creating and managing a viewport that follows the player wihin the level. 
 
-- If the level is the same size as te viewport then the camera is static. 
+- If the level is the same size as the viewport then the camera is static. 
 
 - We also want to have a zoom capability that zooms between 320x180 and 480x270. The current view is 320x180.
 
 - We should be able to use a lot of the code from LunaLightGML however we will need to create the class objects and restructure to work with MonoGame.
 
+## March 16th, 2025 - JME
+
+Created intitial Camera2D class. We will need to add in code from GML for the smooth following effect, screen shake, etc. I did add some other stuff that is cool though.
+
+- Zoom, we can set the camera zoom between 0.1f and 10f. These values may need to be changed after testing.
+
+- Rotation, I thought this might be fun.. might come in handy for an effect later on. The camera is 2D but rotates on what woudl be the z-axis.
+
+- We can set the level bounds that the camera exists in when moving from level to level.
+
+## March 17th, 2025 - JME
+
+**Zoom Weirdness**
+Testing shows some serious pixel distortion when zooming. Rotation is odd.. but could still be cool at somepoint, lets focus on fixing the zoom.
+
+I think the probelm is due to the fixed render target. We are changing the veiwport width and height when zooming but the render target stays the same. We are also zooming at sub-pixel values so it is possible to land on a zoom value of 1.5f for example which isn't pixel perfect and causes distortion. 
+
+Solutions:
+
+- We could abandon zoom in the camera and control zoom by changing the render target values.
+- We should in either case only zoom at integer values to preserve pixel-perfect zoom.
+
+Leaning towards abstracting the render target code to its own class and handling zoom there. Overall I think this will be better as it is what draws to the backbuffer.